Identified! AR - Fort Smith, Male UP2843, entangled in tree in Poteau River, Nov'01 - John Camp

[hannavaseel]

I was going to suggest starting with the hotel key and trying to find out if a hotel relatively close to where he was found had keys such as the one described. From there checking to see if hotels had any unpaid for rooms...but then I realized that he would have had to have used a credit card and they would have just charged it even if he never checked out officially.

Seems like most hotels these days use a credit card type key, not a "real" key....

Just thinking out loud......

This is a very interesting case.

The problem with the hotel key is that it would have been a fantastic lead 11 years ago. But there they probably changed their locks since then, used different key rings, or the management has changed hands.

Also, even though this is an Arkansas case, I doubt he was ever in Arkansas. Like I said, there river is in Arkansas for probably 1/4 a mile tops, AND most of the area that it's in Arkansas, it's only in half in Arkansas. The border of the state goes through the river. I suppose there are equal chances that he could have been in Oklahoma or Arkansas, but if he was using the river or he chose to be in the river at any time it was probably not in Arkansas. Also, that river flows North. So he wouldn't have gotten in it (if he chose to do so) from Arkansas. I think it just so happened that his body ended up on the Arkansas side, and this could have easily been an Oklahoma unidentified body rather than an Arkansas one.

 

[EmmaliLucia]

So because I want to be just like CarlK when I grow up I sorted through lists of Charley Project Missing men with the Initials JC and here are some extra ones that this could be.

James Creighton
12-24-2000 Maryland

Joshua Curry
11-25-1994 Hawaii
His parents think he was probably killed and disposed of on the Island, but I think it's possible that he decided to get away from all the violence and his addictions by going to the mainland, only to end up dying over here.

Jose Chavez
1-20-1996 Arizona

John Cheek
12-2-1993 Tennessee

Jeffrey Chsiholm
8-19-1994 California/Arizona
The circumstances under how he's missing for some reason are just really creepy/spooky to me.

James Cole
4-12-1994 Maryland
I wonder what his girlfriend's name was, and if he was possibly about to propose or maybe had some sort of promise ring?

John Conaway
2-11-1998 Nebraska

Joseph Consentino
8-14-1994 New York

John Constantine
4-4-1998 California

James Cooper
10-25-1996 Michigan
He's a little on the young side, but I could see it.

Jose Cortez
11-15-1999 California

Jose Caballero
3-7-1996 Texas

John Cash
11-1-1998 California
I'll be the first to admit though, I hate cases where they went missing with their cars. If their cars haven't been found then I think that they are either in some ditch covered up by bushes (It's happened) or they're sunk in some body of water (Super common).


So what do you guys think?

 

[carbuff]

I want to know how a body gets mummified in proximity to a river.

Mummification requires a very dry environment, no moisture in the air. Like a desert. An airy space in an attic or under someone's floorboards in Arizona. Being tangled in a tree by a river just won't do it.

So I'm wondering whether the man was killed far from the river and then placed there after his body was desiccated.

If the body was swept downstream at the time of high water, it could have hung up in the branches and have been quite a distance from the water when the river returned to its normal channels. That part of the country gets very little rainfall, so a body could dry out fairly quickly once the water receded.

Which means he could have gone into the river quite a distance upstream. I don't know whether there are any large population areas in that direction.

My first guess would be a farmer or couple who went into the water during spring flooding in 2001 -- maybe while doing farm work, or after a traffic accident, or trapped in their home. I'm guessing they might not be listed on any missing persons sites because they were probably presumed dead. Though that's strictly a guess.

 

[carbuff]

Or because he didn't want anyone to know he was already married. Perhaps he was having an affair, or out on the prowl.

It's not uncommon for men to remove their rings while they're working on equipment, as a safety measure. So if he was, for instance, working on a boat motor or an irrigation pump, he might have taken it off and fallen into the water somewhere.

addendum: I was looking for a map that showed where the Poteau River flowed, to find out what's upstream. I found a Wikipedia article with a couple of pictures: Poteau River - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Basically it runs south to north across Oklahoma before entering the Arkansas River at Fort Smith.

 

[hannavaseel]

I was looking through the archives of a Fort Smith area newspaper and I definitely scored! However, this news report says nothing was in his pockets...

Fishermen Find Body In River

By John Lyon

times record jlyon@swtimes.com

A badly decomposed body was found entangled in tree limbs on the east side of the Poteau River Monday, according to Fort Smith police. The body was found near South E Street by people who were fishing in the area, officers at the scene said. Police were notified of the discovery at 1:11 p.m.

Fort Smith firefighters and Sebastian County Coroner A.J. Parish used a Fire Department rescue boat to reach the body, which apparently had drifted into low-hanging tree limbs in the water and gotten stuck there, Parish said. Sometime after the body became snagged, the waterline apparently had lowered, exposing the body, Parish said.

The identity of the body was unknown Monday. Parish said it appeared to be the body of an adult male, but the body was so badly decomposed that he could not determine the person's race or estimate his age.

A pair of blue jeans and one sneaker were the only clothing on the body, Parish said. Nothing was found in the pockets of the jeans.

Parish said the body would be sent to the State Crime Laboratory in Little Rock for an autopsy. No obvious signs of foul play were seen on the body, he said.

The person apparently has been dead "for quite some time," Parish said. He noted that the skin was leatherized, a process which usually takes about seven months.

Fort Smith police Sgt. Jeff Barrows said police are looking through missing person reports for possible clues to the person's identity.

"Due to the state of decomposition, we couldn't ID the person by sight," he said.

Police do not know whether the body entered the river in Fort Smith or drifted here from another location.

"After we look through all our missing persons reports, we'll contact other agencies if we can't match it up with any of our missing persons," Barrows said.

 

[hannavaseel]

Even better! Article after the autopsy, these two articles have a lot more information than I knew, and I think a lot of our suspicions so far have been spot on. I'm contacting the fort smith police for details on the inconsistencies between the article and what we know. If he didn't have anything in his pockets where did the straw, knife, and change come from? Now we know he had his wedding ring on his keys. I'll let you all know more when I hear back from the Fort Smith PD.

Police Say Death Accidental

By John Lyon

times record jlyon@swtimes.com

An autopsy by the state medical examiner's office found no sign of foul play in the death of a man whose body was found tangled in tree branches at the edge of the Poteau River in Fort Smith last week, according to police.

The man may have been swimming in the river and may have died accidentally, Fort Smith police Sgt. Jeff Barrows said Tuesday. Barrows noted that the man was wearing cutoff jeans and no shirt when he was found, and a wedding ring and keys were found on a key chain attached to his jeans, possibly indicating that he entered the river intentionally.

The man's identity remained unknown Tuesday, but Barrows said the man's initials may be J.C. On the man's upper right arm there was a tattoo of a heart, a wreath, the words "One Love" and "Teresa" and the initials "J.C." and "T.C.," leading police to believe that the man was "J.C." and that "T.C." referred to a wife or girlfriend.

The man also had extensive dental work, Barrows said. He is described as an adult white male about 6 feet to 6 feet 2 inches tall, probably around 30 or 40 years old. He was wearing Blue Zone jeans and one Silver Series size 10 tennis shoe.

The autopsy determined that the man could have been dead up to a year. The water level of the Poteau River was higher one year ago, leading police to suspect that the man drifted into the tree at about that time then remained in the tree when the waterline lowered, Barrows said.

Police do not know how far the man's body drifted before becoming caught in the tree. It is likely the man entered the water somewhere in Oklahoma, Barrows said. So far, however, authorities in Oklahoma have been unable to match the man with any missing person reports.

 

[deca]

My guess is he was working in Oklahoma temporarily and living out of a hotel. Otherwise I would think there would be a MP report from OK that would make this easy...
I am guessing they were entering in MPs to their own computer database in 2000, right?

 

[Phoenixrising]

Jose Cortez is listed as having a heart shaped tattoo on forearm like UID as well as wearing a ring on left land

 

[hannavaseel]

Jose Cortez is listed as having a heart shaped tattoo on forearm like UID as well as wearing a ring on left land

Jose Cortez is listed as having a heart tattoo on his forearm, the second news article states the heart is on John Doe's upper right arm.

 

[Ausgirl]

Ah! Valuable details indeed, thank you so much for hunting those up, hannavaseel!

"Leatherised" and badly decomposed is not the same as "mummified", and the keys and ring being on a chain, etc...

I think accidental drowning is a good call here. No sign of foul play. Cut off jeans, no shirt, keys and ring on chain (if he didn't want to leave them on the banks for some reason).

"6 feet to 6 feet 2 inches tall, probably around 30 or 40 years old" is at least a start in narrowing down the list...

 

[carbuff]

Jose Cortez is listed as having a heart tattoo on his forearm, the second news article states the heart is on John Doe's upper right arm.

With so many discrepancies in the descriptions, the difference between upper arm and forearm seems rather small...

I say submit it. Fits on so many fronts.

 

[longtallcold]

FWIW - I posted on CL a pic of the key...and 2 different ppl emailed and said Stonewall Jackson Inn

I looked it up quickly and the review was roach infested dump. Sounds like a place where maybe this person was staying - i.e. weekly rates

 

[webrocket]

FWIW - I posted on CL a pic of the key...and 2 different ppl emailed and said Stonewall Jackson Inn

I looked it up quickly and the review was roach infested dump. Sounds like a place where maybe this person was staying - i.e. weekly rates

nice job. assuming it is the same place where the key came from, you'd think the cops would have visited it as there is a Stonewall Jackson Inn right there in Fort Smith.

so makes me wonder what they found there? a guy who signed up under a fake name? no car? wallet?

 

[LisaB]

I want to know how a body gets mummified in proximity to a river.

Mummification requires a very dry environment, no moisture in the air. Like a desert. An airy space in an attic or under someone's floorboards in Arizona. Being tangled in a tree by a river just won't do it.

So I'm wondering whether the man was killed far from the river and then placed there after his body was desiccated.

Depending on where in the tree he was, could he have dried out in the sun? I have seen dehydrated frogs within feet of a river, because they were "lawnmowered", stepped on, or killed by a dog.

 

[LisaB]

I am wondering if he was missing his hands, where did they find his wedding band?

The opening post says it was in his pocket.

 

[LisaB]

Or because he didn't want anyone to know he was already married. Perhaps he was having an affair, or out on the prowl.

Ring or no ring, the tattoo would have raised questions if he was having an affair. Not all men wear wedding rings in the first place.

 

[deca]

Not that it matters much to the investigation- but I wonder if "Teresa" had passed. I can't see the tattoo too clearly, but it looks like some sort of angel wing/wreath of laurel design around the name?
It also looks like "Teresa" was done by a different person/ separate time- just looks a different quality from the rest of the tattoo. IDK I am no tattoo expert and that pic is hard to see.

I spent some time yesterday looking at MP reports from that general US area- so many have heart tats!! Or undescribed tats! You would think it would make things easier.

 

[EmmaliLucia]

Ah! Valuable details indeed, thank you so much for hunting those up, hannavaseel!

"Leatherised" and badly decomposed is not the same as "mummified", and the keys and ring being on a chain, etc...

I think accidental drowning is a good call here. No sign of foul play. Cut off jeans, no shirt, keys and ring on chain (if he didn't want to leave them on the banks for some reason).

"6 feet to 6 feet 2 inches tall, probably around 30 or 40 years old" is at least a start in narrowing down the list...

The thing that seems strange to me is that he was wearing shoes, no one goes swimming in their shoes.

I could see him maybe falling in, but I just can't imagine this guy went into the river with all his gadgets on him, including his shoes.

 

[EmmaliLucia]

Jose Cortez is listed as having a heart tattoo on his forearm, the second news article states the heart is on John Doe's upper right arm.

NamUs says the tattoo is on his right forearm.

 

[hannavaseel]

NamUs says the tattoo is on his right forearm.

I just realized that. You'd think that has to be right but the news article says it's on his upper arm. To me, that'd mean past the elbow, and the forearm means would indicate under it. I'd normally be more inclined to think a reporter got it wrong and NamUs is right, but there are are so many discrepancies between that and the news article- one of my problems with Namus is that they say he was wearing shorts, well...no he wasn't wearing shorts. He was wearing cut-off jeans and that isn't really the same thing as shorts to me. Why wouldn't Namus say his ring was on his key chain. That changes thing a lot to me too, one of you guys pointed out that Teresa could have already been dead. If that's the case, wouldn't it make sense that he had his wedding ring on his keychain because he wanted it close to him but he didn't feel like he should wear it anymore? Why isn't there a picture on Namus of the pocket knife, shoes, ring, or cut off jeans? In the news article the state crime lab reports he could have been dead up to a year, if he was found in November of 2001 why wouldn't that mean he could have been dead since November 2000, yet Namus says he could have only been dead since 2001. Why is the news article saying he's about 6 feet to 6 feet two, but Namus says he's 69 inches tall ( 5 foot 9 inches tall)? Why did they say he looks about 30-40 but Namus says he could be anywhere from 18 to 75. Why does the news article say he wears size 10 shoes but Namus says he wears size 11? Why isn't his dental information on Namus, when 11 years ago they could tell he had extensive dental work- wouldn't that be a big clue to someone searching?